Fantasy Football: 7 Sleeper Quarterbacks to Target in 2018

Eli Manning, New York Giants

According to Fantasy Football Calculator's ADP, Saquon Barkley is being drafted as the RB5, Odell Beckham is the WR3, and Evan Engram is the TE6. However, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is being drafted as the QB22. Fantasy owners clearly have recency bias and are unfairly holding last season against Manning, despite all the love for those around him.

While he produced his worst statistical season since 2013, it's worth noting that he lost Beckham for the majority of the year and Sterling Shepard for part of the year while he had a non-existent run game. Those are three strong reasons for his 2017 failures, and that's not to mention Ben McAdoo's shenanigans.

In the three seasons Manning has had a healthy Beckham to throw to, he's averaged roughly 4,300 yards, 30 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Those numbers were good enough for him to finish in the top 10 twice in fantasy.

While we shouldn't expect Manning to lead the NFC in pass attempts again, new head coach Pat Shurmur's system should improve his efficiency. There is no better proof of that than Case Keenum, who went from barely completing 60% of his passes over his career to finishing second to Drew Brees in completion percentage (67.6%) last season.

Eli's ceiling may not be on the same level as a Patrick Mahomes or Marcus Mariota, but you shouldn’t be surprised when he crushes his alte-round ADP. --Tim Talmadge